EV Registrations Jump 57%

New data from Experian Automotive, an information services company, shows that registrations for electric vehicles in the U.S. have increased 57% in the first nine months of 2022 over the same time period last year, with consumers registering over 530,000 new battery-electric vehicles from January through September 2022.

In the past five years, EV registrations have increased a whopping 250%, according to the recently published Automotive Consumer Trends Report 2022 from Experian Automotive. Today, there are over 1.7 million electric vehicles on the roads, compared to just over 400,000 registered EVs in 2018. In total, EV registrations make up just 5% of new vehicle registrations, but the number is climbing.

The increase is in part due to the increasing variety and availability of EV models from automakers, and the research shows more and more consumers are shifting toward buying electric SUVs over sedans as more options come to the market. SUVs make up 59% of new EV registrations as of the second quarter of 2022, while electric sedan registrations have gone down to about 35.77% of new EV registrations.

California holds the top share of EV registrations at about 40%, as it has for quite some time with many consumers in the state transitioning to EVs early on. But the report shows that in Arizona, primarily in Phoenix and Tucson, there was fast growth for EV registrations in the first half of the year. Chicago, Illinois and Houston, Texas also had considerable growth in new EV registrations.

As Utility Dive reported, other brands outside of Tesla have seen a major increase in registrations, with a 71% increase year-over-year in new EV registrations, a total of 183,750 registrations, for electric vehicles from traditional automakers and startup companies alike. Tesla still leads sfor now, though, with almost 350,000 new EV registrations from January to September 2022. The company’s Tesla Model Y was the vehicle with the highest number of new EV registrations for the first three quarters of this year, followed closely by the Tesla Model 3.

The third most-registered EV was the Ford Mustang Mach-E, followed fourth by Tesla’s Model S. The Volkswagen ID.4 rounded out the top five.

EV registrations are expected to continue increasing, especially with updated federal tax incentives, decreasing prices for EVs and continued infrastructure growth to support EV charging around the U.S.